MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

Managing Human Resources

Case Study HRD Intervention
Group 08 - Aditi Rathi 13P187 | Apratim Maitra 13P197 | Ishaan Gupta 13P208 | Niket Gupta 13P217 | Prateek Hampiholi 13P207 | Rajesh A Nair 13P227

Comment whether a three day course should be conducted. If yes, what should be the objectives, inputs, methodology and approach ? In the light of the case of International Bank, where the employees are facing problems such accepting the established hierarchy owing to the merit-cum-availability promotions of few, lack of communication skills, low educational background and inadequate technical knowledge, it can assertively concluded that there indeed is a need for three day course to be conducted for the employees. An organization development intervention is a sequence of planned activities, actions and events intended to help the organization improve its performance and effectiveness. Designing an effective human resource intervention is contingent upon following factors : 1. Individual differences among organizational members, organizational factors, and dimensions of the change process itself. 2. Situational factors Readiness for Change Capability to Change (knowledge and skills including the ability to motivate change, to lead change, to develop political support, to manage transition, and to sustain momentum) Cultural Context (intervention design must account for the cultural values and assumptions held by organization members) Capabilities of Change Agent (expertise, experience and talents of the consultant)

OBJECTIVE The main purpose for the course should be to inculcate in the employees enthusiasm to learn more about banking industry, be theoretically sound, and further be the driver and the support while implementing best practices of the industry within the organization. The course should also cater to the problem of peoples feeling of being uncomfortable in hierarchy established by the merit-cum-availability promotions and the process of cross training via transfer of jobs. The course should also be able to make the employees especially senior officers understand the importance of objectivity and impartiality during performance appraisals. INPUTS One-to-One / Face-to-Face interviews from top to bottom of the organizational hierarchy are suggested to record the responses from the employees regarding their pain points in the current organization environment. A

questionnaire based likert scale of 5 can be put in place to capture the emotions of the people over various policies of the organization (for e.g. Very Bad, Bad, Neutral, Good, and Very Good) METHODOLOGY Statistical tools such as regression can be adopted to measure the effectiveness of various existing policies and the productivity of the employees in various spheres. Analyzing the responses recorded would lead to meaningful insights of employee perception towards the management and organizations practices. According to Harrison, the deepest type of intervention is intrapersonal analysis analysis within an individual eg: getting a CEO to reexamine his or her leadership style, values, assumptions and belief system. APPROACH The following interventions deal with interpersonal relationships and group dynamics and thus would help balancing out the current discomfort of the people regarding hierarchy : 1. T Groups: The basic T Group brings ten to fifteen strangers together with a professional trainer to examine the social dynamics that emerge from their interactions. 2. Process Consultation: This intervention focuses on interpersonal relations and social dynamics occurring in work groups. 3. Third Party Interventions: This change method is a form of process consultation aimed at dysfunctional interpersonal relations in organizations. 4. Team Building: This intervention helps work groups become more effective in accomplishing tasks. The following Interventions deal with human processes that are more system wide than individualistic oriented and shall be aimed at increasing the zeal in the employees towards learning, objectivity and ethics : 1. Organization Confrontation Meeting: This change method mobilizes organization members to identify problems, set action targets, and begin working on problems. 2. Intergroup Relations: These interventions are designed to improve interactions among different groups or departments in organizations. 3. Large-group Interventions: These interventions involve getting abroad variety of stakeholders into a large meeting to clarify important values, to develop new ways of working, to articulate a new vision for the organization, or to solve pressing organizational problems. 4. Grid Organization Development: This normative intervention specifies a particular way to manage an organization.

Literature Review How is the intervention conducted ? o According to Deming (1994) to succeed in implementing a quality program a company must adopt a 14-point system at all levels of the organization. These points are:

1. Drive out Fear: The organization must communicate the plan of action to every employee, supplier, including short term and long-term goals. If the program is to be totally accepted management must communicate to the employees their vision for the future. 2. Eliminate quotas and numerical goals: According to Deming, quotas and numerical goals force employees into an out-put frame of mind, leaving little chance of quality thinking. 3. Break down all barriers between departments: In most centralized organizations there are definite lines of communications that must be followed and a division of labour according to departments. In order to implement a TQM program requires that the organization move toward a de-centralized system in which communication between departments is frequent and ongoing. In many organizations, this meant the creation of work teams and quality circles in which each employees inputs were actively sought and followed up on. 4. Eliminate inspection. Learn to build products right the first time: According to Creech, (1994), inspection of products is necessary until that point in time when the processes and the product are at the highest possible quality. Only when the product is quality can inspection be eliminated. The idea that one can learn to make a product right the first time is great in theory, but often it takes many prototypes and revisions before the product is superior in quality. In addition to the need to design and try the products for production, improvements may be needed and the easiest way to measure if the improvements are effective is to inspect the product before releasing it to market. 5. Institute a vigorous program of education: This means that the company must educate all people involved in the implementation of the program as to the purposes, the ultimate goal of the program, and the anticipated benefits for everyone involved with the organization. This education may involve training managers and employees to work together to achieve quality. Often management must be educated in the workings of team based production systems, and employees must be educated on how to work effectively in teams. Without education as to the purpose, and benefits of the program, employees and managers alike are likely to sabotage the entire program before it is fully implemented. 6. Remove barriers that rob workers of their right to pride of workmanship: According to Deming, organizations often fail to recognize employee contributions to the bottom line. If TQM is to be successful employees must have a sense of accomplishment and pride in the product they are producing. In order to foster this sense of pride the organization must empower the employees. Empowerment means that each individual employee has the knowledge and training to inspect his or her own contributions and make necessary improvements (Blake & Mouton, 1981). Managements job is to recognize each employees unique contributions to the process and to recognize employees for their contributions to the overall quality of the product. (Hall, 1987). In Demings program, performance appraisal systems are inappropriate measures of employee contributions. Performance appraisals should be used to measure product performance not individual employees. In order for TQM to succeed management must instil a sense of pride in their employees. This sense of pride can be realized by creating a vision of the future to which employees can strive. 7. Institute leadership: The aim of leadership should be to help people do a better job: Leadership serves as the role model for the rest of the organization. If the leadership is not fully committed to quality, the program will fail (Juran, 1989). According to Cartin (1993), the critical role of managers is to understand the TQM

philosophies, tools, and techniques, and regularly participate in their application at every level of the organization. The old analogy of a company leader being the captain of the ship is no longer appropriate. The leader of an organization cannot just set the course and bark orders when corrections are needed. He or She must set the objectives but solicit the employees on the best methods of reaching the objectives. This willingness to lead instead of manage is key to the success of the program. 8. Eliminate slogans, exhortations and production targets: In order to do this the leadership must be willing to let the quality process take hold regardless of the time constraints. Deming and others argue that in successful TQM programs the production will surpass any possible production targets the leadership might set. The idea that quality is worth the wait is central to the success of the program, production targets shift employees attention away from quality and toward out-puts thus reducing the overall quality of the product. 9. Adopt a new philosophy: According to Deming, the organization must adopt a new philosophy, which has quality at its core. This new philosophy should provide the vision and direction of the company and its employees. Failure to make quality a philosophy of business means that the whole system will crumble upon itself. The philosophy of the organization is the centre pillar on which the TQM program is built upon, without which the entire system falls to ruin (Creech, 1984). 10. End the practice of awarding business based on the price tag. Move toward a single supplier for any one item. Base this long-term relationship on loyalty and trust: One of the keys to successful implementation of TQM programs is identifying your suppliers, and communicating your philosophy and visions to them. According to Deming organizations must end the practice of selecting suppliers based on price. The organization must seek out suppliers that share their vision of quality and build a relationship with these suppliers built on loyalty and trust. This is a crucial step in insuring that the implementation of a quality program succeeds. The structure of organizations is such that often completion of a single product may involve the utilizing the products of several different organizations. This dependence on others for the necessary parts or services means that organizations must actively seek out suppliers who are willing to meet the quality standards required, and abandon those suppliers whose products are sub-standard (Burt, 1989). Often the failure of TQM programs can be traced back to poor quality parts of services from suppliers (Gurnani, 1999). 11. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service: This is perhaps the heart of any successful TQM program. Improving the quality of the product or service is key to remaining successful. The implementation of quality programs means that the processes and products are constantly measured against the products of competitors. If an organization is to remain competitive they must implement improvements in the entire production system. Quality must encompass all phases of production, including improving technology, processes, machinery, and communication throughout the entire system (Hill & Collins, 1999). 12. Put everyone to work to accomplish this transformation: As mentioned earlier, the implementation of a TQM program involves every person in the organization. Leaders must work to ensure that every person is contributing to the success of the program, from the janitor to the CEO (Savolainen, 2000). The implementation of a successful TQM program hinges on the willingness of all involved parties to actively pursue quality. 13. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service to become competitive and to stay in business and to provide jobs: Although the implementation of TQM programs often means the loss of jobs, the key success is to communicate the purposes of the lay-offs and to emphasize that layoffs may be a necessary part of the program. The ultimate goal of TQM is to increase the quality of the product in the hopes of remaining in business and to become competitive in the market. 14. Resistance to change: Employees generally resist TQM programs for two major reasons-they believe that is will cause job loss and that management would refuse to share the fruits of such programs. If the employees (union members or not) are not

consulted or involved, it will likely reinforce the same perception-that TQM is a threat to their well being, or the union organization, or both. It is only through greater level of employee involvement and commitment that management can ensure the success of TQM. This resistance to change may be minimized by empowering the employees to act independently or in groups to implement changes needed to insure the success of the program. 15. Maintaining Change: As previously noted TQM programs are not quick fixes that disappear after the organization has regained its original standing; successful TQM programs change the entire organizational culture, to one of quality. Given this fact, maintaining change is relatively simple. During the reorganization phase of the program, the organization has either dismissed or retrained employees who insisted on the old way of doing business, with this new mindset, and continuous improvement at the core of the program, TQM programs become the way things are done at the organization, therefore maintaining change is not difficult to achieve. 16. Follow-up: TQM programs by nature dependent on constant follow up. Following the product throughout the entire production process is crucial to maintaining the quality of the product. If changes are implemented in the process, follow up must also be implemented to ensure that the change leads to improvement of the product. Failure to follow up on product changes can lead to substandard products and less customer satisfaction. To implement follow up on the effectiveness of TQM programs, management must facilitate feedback from within the organizations and create opportunities for customers to provide feedback to the company. Harley Davidson sponsors Bike Weeks, through which they actively seek follow up information from their customers (Reid, 1990). 17. Special Considerations/Critique: Although many organizations utilize TQM programs, they are often modified versions of Demings original concept. Since it conception Total Quality Management has become the buzzword in business, however, few organizations embrace the philosophies of TQM fully. In most organizations, TQM principles are applied to the processes and product, but not the employees. Many spin-offs of Demings original principles abound in organizations worldwide, examples of which include ISO-9000, Sigma-Six, Taughchi systems.